On April 10, 2014, Justin was our 107th graduate of His Way. It took him seven months to graduate our six month program. But here is why.
Due to circumstances beyond his control, by the time Justin’s six month graduation date arrived he was nearly $1,000 behind on his recovery fees. Therefore, he was unable to graduate, because His Way rules clearly state that all recovery fees must be paid in full in order to graduate.
Two contemporaries of Justin’s faced similar situations and chose to leave early because they saw no way that their fees could be caught up by their graduation date. Justin faced the same uncertainty, but chose to stay trusting that somehow things would change. He just knew that God would not have brought him this far without providing a way of success for him if he just trusted. He had absolutely no idea how, but he trusted.
A few weeks later, his fellow residents held a fund raising car wash to help the brothers who were behind on fees to catch up. That loving act of service helped Justin with part of his dilemma. Plus, better than average paychecks and some money left over from a family vacation helped Justin come up with the money he needed just three weeks after he was to originally graduate.
On the day of his graduation, Justin taught our daily Bible class on faith. But it was a lesson already previously taught to the entire house through Justin’s faithful waiting upon the Lord.
The Hebrew writer in Hebrews 11:1 gives us the definition of faith, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Then the writer continues by listing numerous Old Testament examples of faith. Some call this chapter, the “Hall of Fame of Faith”. I would like to nominate Justin to be inducted into this great hall. Because Justin had the faith to finish!
Tom Reynolds